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Boost for Indigenous Australian mental illness diagnosis research

Date posted: 20 January 2014

University of Queensland (UQ) researcher, Dr Maree Toombs, has been awarded $948,000 from the National Health and Medical Research Council to improve the diagnosis of mental illness in Indigenous Australians.

Dr Toombs, who is the Director of Indigenous Health at the UQ School of Medicine's Rural Clinical School, says that the grant will play a significant role in improving the health of Indigenous Australians.

'Although there have been a number of small studies of mental health in specific Indigenous communities, reliable data on mental illness in Indigenous Australians is lacking,' Dr Toombs says.

The study will determine whether SCID-I, a globally promoted mental disorder interview tool, is useful to diagnose mental illness in Indigenous populations. The tool will also be utilised to quantify the burden of mental illness among these communities.

'Our research findings will inform policy making and improve models of care specific to Indigenous Australians,' Dr Toombs said.